The Girl Without A Dream
by Kushinada Uzumaki
Summary: AU: Over a hundred years since she had last seen the likes of Soul Society, but just as she had finally put it all behind her the past sneaks back in thanks to a familiar face and a protective strawberry. Maybe helping Ichigo will help Hinata remember how to live and dream again. They may just save each other from themselves.
1. Chapter 1

**AN: So, I've been thinking over creating a Bleach story, one that doesn't involve a crossover and this was the idea that stuck around. I do want to say now, that it involves an OC I created for the story, and said Original Character has the name Hinata. She is by no means based off of Hyuga Hinata, I just liked the name, and it's meaning. **

**For more information on any of my stories I have a website linked on my profile. **

**Disclaimer: I own nothing you recognize, I only own any Oc's that appear, such as Yoruhana Hinata. **

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**The Girl Without A Dream.**

**Prologue: The Sunflower's Sword of Fate.**

**Soul Society; 1888:**

"Oh, little Hina-hime made lieutenant...I'm so proud!"

A woman with messy, black hair hugged a shorter girl with an arm around her neck and knuckles digging into the younger black haired girls scalp. Two men, one taller and in most opinion rather handsome, the other was much shorter, and looked to be between the ages of ten and twelve.

As for the older two; just by looking it would be hard to tell which of the two siblings was older. It was relatively easy to spot the girl being congratulated as one of the youngest amongst them (other than the youngest boy), though her petite build helped.

In all honesty, the girl didn't look much older than thirteen or fourteen, but she had impressive curves for someone her physical age. She was pretty, with long black hair, porcelain skin, and bright silvery-violet eyes, her eyes being her most unique feature. She looked nothing like the others, other than the black hair.

"Our little sunflower is growing up," one of the men said, chuckling. "Maybe she'd even get taller.."

The girl, finally released from the woman's grip, puffed out her cheeks in annoyance, face flushing as she glared at the aqua green eyed man.

"Kaien, I'm not short!" she exclaimed.

"Now, little brother, don't tease Hinata-chan..." the woman began, only to be cut off by the last boy who huffed.

"Like you don't do it as well, Kūkaku-nee," he said and Kūkaku glowered at her youngest brother.

Hinata laughed at the siblings interaction and grinned brightly. She enjoyed seeing them so carefree and acting like siblings. The Shiba family, who were affiliated to her clan, the Yoruhana's, took her in before she could even truly recall being alone. She'd grown up with Kūkaku, Kaien, and Ganju, and the Shiba clan – which wasn't outrageously large, but larger than her now dead clan. She was the last Yoruhana alive.

There cousin, Isshin, was to be her captain, and was someone she'd known since she was a small child, though not as well as others. The fact he'd chosen to make her his lieutenant had surprised her but had been a honor no less. Though she didn't know much about her parents, she could happily say that the Shiba's were her family.

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**Soul Society; 1893:**

"Yoruhana-san, nice to see you out and about."

Hinata turned around, stopping her pace at the familiar voice. She blinked in surprise before she smiled slightly at the 12th Division Captain who came up to her, nodding his head in greeting, hand on his white and green hat to keep it in place.

"Kisuke, you know you can just use my name," she said. "We've known each other since we were kids, after all."

Urahara laughed, nodding.

"Old habits," he said, and the two continued walking together.

The two of them truly had known each other since before the Academy, though Hinata was younger, but she had also graduated the Academy within three years, which was rather impressive, and she owed that success to her friends who had helped her when she needed it.

After graduating she was part of the 2nd Division for a while, the fourth seat, but was transferred to the 10th Division eight years later. Within two years she had made lieutenant, and had been for nearly five years now.

Compared to humans, who aged so quickly, it sometimes still caught her off guard to look in the mirror and realize she was two hundred and eighty-nine years old, but didn't look a day past fifteen, if that. But then, Ganju barely looked thirteen and was nearly as old as her, so she supposed she had it good enough.

It wasn't like she envied the humans rate of aging, it just sometimes surprised her, especially after having a mission to the human world for a week or longer.

"Anyways, I heard you'd gotten injured taking down a Hollow? I figured that was why Isshin was all up in arms the last few days," Urahara said, and Hinata smirked, shaking her head.

"Isshin-taichō overreacts," she said. "It was simply a flesh wound, Unohana took care of it, but she wanted me to take a day or two to rest. Apparently the Hollow had some sort of poison ability... she explained it but you know how I am with lectures."

Urahara snorted, knowing exactly how the black haired girl was with long speeches. It was a miracle she'd passed the Academy with her tendency to space out during such things.

"Well, I'm glad of that," Urahara began, and then held out his arm. "Now, Hina-hime, allow me to walk you the rest of the way to your division."

Hinata chuckled, though a little annoyed of the nickname that had been started as a child by Kūkaku, and leaked to Yoruichi and everyone else that knew her well. She had grown to like it somewhat, though it still sparked a tiny bit of annoyance when spoken. It was simply the fact they were calling her princess was annoying, she was the last of her clan but her clan wasn't all that compared to the Kuchiki, or Shihōin clans. They were merely a lesser clan, hardly nobles any longer.

Despite this, she knew after over two hundred years the nickname wasn't going anywhere anytime soon.

She took the offered arm, linking her elbow with his.

"You're a terrible flirt, Kisuke."

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**10th Division HQ: **

"Hina, I need you to go with the lieutenant from the 12th Division to the investigation site; in concern of those disappearances."

Hinata looked at Isshin startled. She had heard of the disappearances lately, and it had her rightfully concerned. She also knew the investigation site was going to be a hot topic in the Divisions, and wasn't surprised that a researcher was being sent over, but she wasn't expecting to be sent with the researcher.

The fact it was the lieutenant of the 12th Division didn't truly surprise her. She knew Urahara trusted his lieutenant above everyone else in the 12th Division. Pushing a stray lock of hair behind her ear, Hinata nodded.

"What exactly am I to do? I heard quite a few were going to be there, looking it over for any leads," Hinata said.

"You're mostly there to find anything that can tell us what these disappearances are, and to lend help if something goes wrong," Isshin sighed as he frowned deeply. "I'll be honest with you Hinata, I have a really bad feeling about this all. Something just doesn't seem right."

Hinata sighed, nodding her agreement.

"I'll make sure to keep my eyes open," she said. "I'll see you when I get back, Taichō."

With that said, Hinata turned and left, heading off to meet with the 12th Division's lieutenant, Sarugaki Hiyori and whoever else had been sent.

It would be the last time she saw her Division, and the last time she felt at home in Seireitei.

_**The Sword of Fate had fallen...**_


	2. Chapter 2

**The Girl Without A Dream.**

**Chapter 1: Dream a little Dream. **

"You sure have a lot of things," Hinata muttered as she stared at the many, many boxes ready to be unloaded for Urahara's move into the 12th Division.

Urahara laughed nervously, rubbing the back of his head.

"Well, some things don't change I guess," he said, and Hinata chuckled.

"Huh, what the hell is this!"

Hinata shared a look with Kisuke, and the blonde chuckled.

"It looks like Hiyori's here," Kisuke said, and Hinata wondered exactly who Hiyori was.

It wasn't like she knew much about the 12th Division. She had been in the 2nd and now 10th Divisions. She knew a few people from other Divisions, but she didn't think she knew a Hiyori...but as she heard the annoyed half-shouts of the girl she realized who it had to be.

She recalled the Lieutenant, under former Captain Hikifune, who was very outspoken and violent at times. She hadn't really met the girl other than in passing, such as at meetings but she was pretty sure her name was Sarugaki Hiyori.

"You!" Hiyori exclaimed, pointing at Kisuke. "What's the big deal? What's going on!?"

Though angry, she did take notice of the shorter, lithely built girl approaching at his side. She had midnight colored hair which fell to the middle of her back. Fair skin, and her eyes were silvery-violet, oddly enough. She recognized her as the Lieutenant of the 10th Division, though she couldn't remember her name.

"Huh, oh, well I figured I should get moved in as soon as possible," Kisuke said, rubbing the back of his neck nervously. "Really sorry about this, such short notice and all, but as you can see there is really no way I could move it by myself. Even with Hinata's help."

He said the last part to the Shinigami Hiyori had been talking to before. She too it that Hinata was the lieutenant beside him and had to wonder how they knew each other. The ravenette couldn't be more than fourteen or fifteen physically. Taking that into consideration, Hiyori figured she was around 150 or more. No older than 500, but some Shinigami could look that youthful and be older than 500, every soul was different. So it was anyone guess how old she truly was.

Hiyori had to stop herself from kicking Urahara where the sun didn't shine, remembering how little good it did before. She still couldn't figure out what he wore under his pants that had hurt so badly.

"I was just wondering what you're gonna do with all this crap?"

Urahara nodded, grinning as he rubbed the back of his head. He seemed to have a habit of this.

"Good question, it's just the promotion came so sudden," he said. "No worries, I'm sure I can get it all to fit."

This only served to anger the blonde girl more, and she sneered, glowering at Kisuke.

"I will not accept this, I will not!"

Kisuke leaned forward a little, and Hinata withheld the desire to face-palm as he spoke.

"Now that sounds familiar, doesn't it?" he began. "Didn't you say that earlier?"

Hiyori growled.

"I will not accept this, or your crap!" she exclaimed, kicking the wagon.

Everyone watched in morbid fascination and shock as the wagon gave way, and boxes of stuff piled on top of the petite girl. Hinata moved to see if the girl was alright, and Kisuke, blinking, did the same.

"Uh, Lieutenant?" an unnamed Shinigami questioned.

"Lieutenant Sarugaki, are you alright?" Hinata asked, and she wasn't at all surprised by Kisuke's words.

"Well, she seems to be fine."

Hinata blinked owlishly at the foot that planted itself in her friends face. As he stumbled back she couldn't help but give a short laugh.

"Well I'm not, Dumbass!"

Hiyori jumped on top of the boxes once covering her and stormed off, muttering to herself the entire way. Then Hinata burst into laughter, clutching at her ribs. Urahara sweat-dropped at his friends reaction, still trying to sooth his face where Hiyori had kicked him. He had to wonder when sandals began to hurt so much, than again, they were made of wood.

"Hina..." he nearly whined, trailing off as he looked at the girl.

"Sorry," Hinata finally got out, her laughter subsiding to random giggles. "I like your lieutenant, Kisuke, she'll keep you in line. A real firestorm, huh?"

"Yeah, for a kid she's got some strength behind her hits," Kisuke said, rubbing his face, which was rather red from Hiyori's kick. "Kind of reminds me of you."

Hinata didn't bother to remind him that Hiyori was probably closer to their age than she looked, instead she simply smirked.

"I'll take that as a compliment."

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Silver-violet eyes opened from a dreamless sleep, her alarm blaring noisily beside her.

Groaning, Hinata reached over, hitting the snooze button on habit and rested her eyes. She'd been away for a while now, and only Isshin currently knew she was back: obviously, seeing as she had to get the pare key from him the night before.

Suddenly she opened her eyes, starting at the ceiling as if there was something interesting about it. There wasn't, it was the plain ceiling it had always been.

_'Hard to believe, it's been over a hundred yeas...' _she thought to herself, raising up in bed. To be honest she didn't want to get up but she had no choice if she wanted to get to school on time.

As far as the school and her friends were concerned, Hinata had been visiting her great-aunt in Kyoto, in order to help the elderly woman out. Truth be told she'd never left Karakura Town. She'd gone to stay with the Visored, something she hadn't done in a few years. Not since she'd began to masquerade as a normal girl.

As she got out of bed, grabbed her uniform and headed to her bathroom for a shower she couldn't help but think of life after leaving Soul Society. She had of course stayed with the Visored, as they'd begun calling themselves, even if she was an anomaly among the others.

She didn't have an inner hollow that she'd had to defeat, she never had.

Instead her soul had somehow merged with her inner hollow during transition, making her the first true hybrid of Shinigami and Hollow. The evidence of this was her paler skin – though not sickly so – and nearly glowing silver-violet eyes. Before merging with her inner hollow she'd never been this pale, and her eyes hadn't been nearly glowing.

They'd been bright and an unusual silver-violet, but the silver hadn't been quite as apparent.

Unfortunately human children and teenagers were cruel at times, and since she'd begun going to school she'd been teased and bullied for her strange eyes. It wasn't as much anymore, she could defend herself and so could her friends in their own rights.

After a few decades she'd grown bored, and asked Kisuke for some help. He'd created her a Gigai that looked around thirteen that would grow as a normal human body would – even if her soul didn't age like a humans. This made it easier to pretend to be a human girl.

Some time later an identity was created for her, and she became a ward of Kurosaki Isshin until she could prove able to care for herself. Money wasn't a problem, she could get jobs and Kisuke didn't mind her working at the Shōten. It also wasn't hard to get odd jobs, like babysitting and other things.

So by the time she turned fourteen – as far everyone was concerned – she'd been able to live by herself. Isshin had helped her buy the home next door after the former tenants moved out, so she lived close to them even after moving out of the Kurosaki home.

In the three years since then she'd grown close to the family, and could honestly say Ichigo was her closest friend, her best friend since she'd began living as a normal teenaged girl.

As far as Ichigo or any of her other friends were concerned her parents died in an accident, and her only relative couldn't take her in – her supposed great-aunt, who didn't really exist – leaving her with few options. Isshin became her temporary guardian because of his past with her parents.

Only Kisuke, Isshin and herself knew the truth. She didn't really like thinking or talking about it, it brought memories best left buried.

Turning off the shower with a sigh, Hinata stepped out and wrapped her towel around herself. Looking in the mirror, she began drying her hair with the other, smaller towel. She hadn't changed in 101 years, even her Gigai looked the age of her soul now, which was between fifteen and seventeen.

Her hair was longer than it had been back then, past her waist and falling to her knees. Unless she was fighting she usually kept it down, with only two crescent moon hair-clips on the left side – which did little to keep the hair out of her face where they were placed, but was more for show so it matter little.

The clips were the gift she'd gotten from the Shiba siblings when she'd made lieutenant all those years before. Other than her body maturing – so much so that the only one who had more developed curves than her was Inoue Orihime, and that was just barely – she hadn't changed. She was still on the short side, much to her aggravation, barely 5'2, but she supposed that was better than nothing.

Looking at the wall clock, Hinata's eyes widened and she quickly dressed, pulling her wet hair back into a loose ponytail held by a a light blue ribbon. Running back to her room she grabbed her bag, and slipped her shoes on at the front door before taking off.

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By the time Hinata got to school she only had one class before lunch, a class that was already half over.

After grabbing a late note on her way to class, suffering through a short reprimanding for her tardiness on her first day back, she ran as quickly as she could. As she was entering she ran past, narrowly missing a familiar orange haired boys head, and to her shock a short dark haired girl she was sure she knew dragging him along.

_But that was impossible_, she thought to herself, and she hadn't gotten a good look at the girl. She hadn't looked up from what she was doing, obviously wanting to get Ichigo somewhere quickly.

Ichigo had noticed her though, it was kind of hard not too when her foot had come inches from kicking him in the face, and, his face turned red as Rukia dragged him off somewhere. It just so happened he now knew Hinata – and he knew it was Hinata from the fact he'd glanced back at the girl, who'd stood in the doorway to watch the strange sight of a short petite girl dragging a larger boy off – was wearing dark blue panties with silver moons on them.

"So she's back," he muttered, as he got to his feet, finally shaking Rukia off.

He wondered why his dad hadn't mentioned it, since chances were she had to get the spare key off of him.

Rukia glanced at him curiously.

"What?" she asked, and Ichigo shook his head.

"Nothing, let's just get this over with," he said, following Rukia from the school.

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"Finally, lunch time," Hinata said, her stomach growling loudly to second her excitement.

She'd run out so quickly that morning that she'd had to double back just to pick up her bento from her fridge. Which was one reason she'd been even later than she'd intended. Clutching the cloth covered box to her chest, Hinata headed towards her desk which, was beside Orihime, one of her closet female friends other than Tatsuki.

Truthfully her friends had all been introduced to her by Ichigo, who was the only one she'd known back when she'd first arrived. It didn't bother her at all, she was grateful to have friends at all.

"I've got bread and red bean paste... what about you?" She heard Orihime say as she got closer.

Hinata nearly shivered, wondered just how the cheerful girl could stomach her own creations. She'd made the mistake once of eating Orihime's cooking, she spent the next two days in bed sick. She'd never told Orihime exactly what had made her sick, instead she'd claimed it was a stomach bug, not wanting to hurt the girls feelings.

Tatsuki laughed.

"Sounds good, my lunch is a little more on the ordinary side," she said and Orihime went on about what she could do with her bread and red bean paste.

"Sounds nice, Hime," Hinata said, and Orihime looked towards her brightly.

"Hinata-chan, I'm glad you're back!" the dark orangette greeted. She hadn't had time during class, and was glad to see Hinata after her being gone the last two weeks. "How was Kyoto?"

Hinata smiled back, standing beside Orihime's desk, on the other side of Tatsuki.

"It was alright, I didn't really get time to see much," she answered, choosing her words so it wasn't a total lie.

Sitting down at her desk, on Orihime's right, Hinata unwrapped her lunch. Inside was a simple meal of Onigiri, some Tamagoyaki (rolled omelets) and few fruits and vegetables.

"Considering why you went there, I'm not surprised," Tatsuki said, having sit down as well on the other side of Orihime.

Hinata nodded, as she placed her chopsticks into her bento and began to eat. She wasn't all that surprised when Chizuru appeared seemingly out of nowhere and began speaking to Orihime, and hugging her at the first chance. It wasn't anything knew, she had been on the receiving end of Chizuru's advances herself, though not often, thankfully. She didn't have any problem with Chizuru, she was a good friend, but Hinata would rather not be fondled by anyone.

"Back off Orihime, Chizuru," Tatsuki warned, her eye twitching in annoyance.

Chizuru took the warning, knowing Tatsuki would follow through with the unspoken warning, and pouted slightly.

"You're no fun, Tatsuki."

Hinata snickered as she brought her chopsticks back up to her mouth, a piece of fruit held between them. Suddenly she froze, the sliced strawberry halfway to her open mouth.

"What the!" a student yelled as they all looked towards the window. A familiar orange haired boy outside it, yet Hinata could sense something wrong about this.

It looked like Ichigo, but something about his expressions was off. Not only that, but she was sure he'd jumped, and there was no way a human could jump that far up.

"Excuse me, this is the ninth grade class, right, group three?" he asked and Hinata lowered her chopsticks back to her lunch.

What was going on here?

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"Wait, how the hell did you get up there?" Tatsuki demanded, making sure Orihime was behind her. She too could see something strange about Ichigo, she just couldn't figure out what exactly.

"How?" Ichigo repeated, "i jumped, how else. You saw It for yourself, didn't you?"

"That's impossible!"

"Ichigo..." Hinata muttered, her bright eyes narrowed at the orangette, and ignoring the mutters from everyone else.

Some had some really strange theories on how Ichigo had gotten there, and listening to them wasn't worth her time. She needed to figure out why Ichigo was giving her such a weird vibe, but for the life of her she couldn't find an answer.

She continued to observe Ichigo, and as his expressions changed she was sure this wasn't him. If it was then something was seriously wrong with him, maybe he'd hit his head?

While she was doing this, the Mod Soul in control of Ichigo's body was observing the class, more importantly the girls. He'd been without a body for way too long, and he wasn't disappointed.

_'Wow, the girls in this class, I don't think there's a bad looking one in the bunch. That other guy sure is lucky surrounded by this all the time...'_ his thought trailed off as he zeroed in on three certain girls that stood together.

The first to catch his eyes was a bright haired girl, with the biggest breast in the entire class, or on any fifteen year old he'd ever seen. The Mod Soul was quick to appear in front of Orihime, holding her hand and stroking her hair as he spoke.

"Hello, pretty lady, would you do me the honor of telling me your name?" he asked, causing Orihime to blink in confusion. Her face turned red as who she thought was Ichigo leaned down and kissed the back of her hand gently.

Everyone's eyes widened and many gasped at the Mod Souls actions. It got worse when Tatsuki grabbed Ichigo under the arms from behind, pulling him away from Orihime.

"Ichigo, what the hell do you think you're doing you bastard!?" she exclaimed, her patience at it's breaking point.

The Mod Soul leaned his head back, taking in the tomboyish dark haired girl.

"You know, you're pretty cute now that I've got a better look at you." He leaned forward, kissing the dark girls cheek, and once again the class went into shock and surprised gasps.

Tatsuki let him go in her surprise, which quickly turned to anger and embarrassment, her nerves snapped as she began throwing things at the Mod Soul. She grabbed anything she could find. Peoples books, lunches, people themselves much to the growing horror of the classroom.

Soon enough it got worse as she picked up a desk and threw that, sending it out the window when the orangette dodged.

"Stand still you son of a..." Tatsuki trailed off, throwing yet another desk, which Ichigo barely got out of the way, standing closer to the blackboard and where Hinata stood.

"I don't see why you're so upset, I just kissed your cheek. It's not grade-school anymore."

Tatsuki looked ready to throw yet another desk, when Hinata finally intervened, having had enough. She was still unsure what was wrong with Ichigo, but for some reason she was sure it connected back to the girl she'd seen dragging him off nearly an hour before.

"Move Hinata, he needs to feel pain!" Tatsuki nearly roared and Hinata sweat-dropped at her friends temper.

"Tatsuki, that's enough. There's probably a good explanation..."

"Hinata...huh, pretty name," the supposed Ichigo said, staring at the girl who'd appeared in front of him and the other girl.

At first he only saw her from behind, but what he saw looked good. Lithe, athletic build, with long black hair pulled back in a loose ponytail with a ribbon. He could see she was pale, but no in a bad way, and curvy. When he said her name she turned, and the Mod Soul's eyes widened.

She was probably the prettiest girl in the class, other than the busty orange haired girl. The raven haired beauty in front of him had a bust nearly as big as the orange haired girls, was about the same height as well, but was lithely built, like a long distance runner or swimmer. She had two crescent moon hair clips in her hair, though it did little to keep her bangs from framing her face. Her eyes were bright, silvery-violet. The oddest, yet prettiest color he'd ever seen.

Hinata blinked at the sudden closeness of her best friend.

"Uh, Ichigo?" she questioned, but any words she was to say were interrupted by the arms around her waist and the lips covering her own.

Her eyes widened sharply as she stood nearly on her tiptoes in order to keep her balance against the taller boy, her brain trying to catch up with exactly what was happening. Her mind didn't kick in until she felt a foreign tongue slip inside her mouth. The kiss lasted a few more seconds after this, but before she could go about punching Ichigo, the door slammed open.

"Stop this right.. now!" a oddly familiar voice shouted in demand, and then seemed waiver as she saw what exactly was going on.

The Mod Soul backed off, turning to see the girl who'd given him to Ichigo standing there in apparent shock, and looking towards the window he saw an equally shocked and one could say, almost horrified, substitute soul reaper. Rukia wasn't the only one to see him kissing Hinata, Ichigo had arrived in time to see the end of the kiss as well.

"Huh, guess it's time to go," the Mod Soul said, only to be interrupted by a intense dark aura and voice.

"I don't think so..."

Turning, the Mod Souls eyes widened.

Hinata stood with her head bowed, hands clinched into fist at her side. It seemed as if a blazing aura of dark blue which bled into silver and black outlining the edges of the aura, taking the silhouette of a large snow leopard (or what looked like a snow leopard) had appeared.

When she looked up at him through her bangs, he shrank back slightly at the dark, reflective eyes, like a jungle cat stalking their pray in the dark.

"That was my first kiss...you _BASTARD!_" She shouted and the Mod Soul barely had time to dodge her punch, which hit the blackboard, cracking it harshly.

The whole class stared in horror and some fear as Hinata, a usually cool headed girl, chased who they thought to be Ichigo down, damaging even more desk and other school property in order to catch the orangette. Unfortunately, or maybe fortunately for Ichigo, the Mod Soul was able to avoid her attacks.

"Ichigo!" Rukia exclaimed, shaking her head to clear it. All the while she couldn't help but wonder where she'd seen the black haired girl before.

Ichigo who had been to shocked to do anything before finally snapped back to reality and moved to stop the Mod Soul who had just avoided a drop kick from one of his closest friends. He couldn't help but feel relieved that the Mod Soul had dodged after seeing the damage Hinata's kick inflicted.

"You're not going anywhere, buddy," Ichigo sneered, eyes narrowed at the soul inside his body who had, in less than an hour, shot his reputation to hell.

The Mod Soul smirked and attacked, surprising Ichigo. Hinata herself had calmed down enough to watch wide eyed as the two Ichigo's fought. It was the fact one was dressed as a Soul Reaper that she realized what exactly had had happened. An Artificial Soul, one of the few who had escaped their death sentence.

She took a step back as Ichigo sailed through the remaining desk, trying to figure out exactly what she should do. On one hand she really wanted to beat the Mod Soul currently inside Ichigo's body into a Ichigo-shaped hole in the ground. On the other hand, it wasn't exactly Ichigo's fault the Mod Soul had kissed her.

Most of all, if she did anything it would give away who exactly she was.

Looking over to the short girl at the door, she observed her. She definitely knew what was going on, and Ichigo could only have become a Soul Reaper one way. If the girl had given him her powers, which Hinata wasn't sure was foolish or brave on the dark haired girls part. It was illegal after all, but if this girl was who she thought she was...then she'd probably get off with a slap on the wrist.

After all, it wouldn't be the first time a Soul Reaper had done this, and usually it wasn't treated as a great crime that got more than minimal punishment.

Something about this all just didn't sit well with her, though.

_'So, Kuchiki Rukia is here? I'm not surprised I didn't recognize her, I only remember her because of Kaien. We ran in two different circles, after all. She was in the 13th Division, myself in the 10th. I wonder, if she's recognized me yet?' _Hinata thought to herself only to gasp when the Mod Soul jumped onto the window seal, and smirked back at them all.

"So long," he said, and jumped.

"What, get back here!" Ichigo screamed out the window after getting off the ground. "That my body you..."

"What just happened?" a random students questioned, blinking.

"I think he jumped..."

"Ichigo?" Hinata heard Orihime mutter.

"What is wrong with that guy?" Ichigo muttered as he looked out the window with Rukia next to him. "He's dragging my image through the damn mud!"

"It's not that bad, Ichigo," Rukia said, eyes slightly narrowed as she watched the soul in Ichigo's body run off at an inhuman speed. Neither paid much mind to Hinata approaching from behind. "But something about him...could he be?"

"Whatever, I've got to go after him before he completely wrecks my body," Ichigo said, still steaming over the fact the soul had kissed Hinata while in his body.

He'd never be able to look Hinata in the eye again, well if she didn't kill him first that is.

Jumping onto the window seal, he prepared to jump off, but just as he did, he felt arms wrapping around his neck, and a body on his back, as if he were giving someone a piggy-back ride. Looking behind him his brown eyes widened at the bright violet orbs they met.

"Don't think for a minute I'm going to leave you to do this yourself, Ichigo," Hinata said, eyes narrowed and voice frosty. "I have some aggression to get out on your body and that Mod Soul."

Ichigo blinked, and took off in a run once he'd hit the ground.

"You...you can see me...Hinata?"

she smiled then, clearly amused.

"I'll explain later, just keep moving. We can't let that Mod Soul run around on his own."

Ichigo wasn't sure what to say or do, but decided he'd simply take her word that she'd explain everything to him later. She was right though, they needed to find his body before something happened.

**.**

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**.**

A abandoned warehouse of some sort, Hinata couldn't help but sigh as she looked around.

Rukia, and she now knew for certain it was the young noble girl as Ichigo had called her such and she'd barely changed in one hundred years, had caught up to them by then.

At first the Shinigami had wanted answers. How could she see Ichigo, how did she seem to know what was going on; as apparently she had heard her speaking to Ichigo about what a Mod Soul was – she had explained what she knew of Mod Souls. How they were artificially made souls used by Soul Society before they were ruled too dangerous to continue existing.

Unfortunately, Hinata admitted the Soul Society did this a lot. Probably something Rukia wouldn't have wanted Ichigo to know, but if the boy she considered her best friend was going to be a Soul Reaper – even if temporarily – she was going to give him nothing but the truth.

Eventually Hinata had convinced Rukia to let it go until they solved the current problem.

"Ahhg, this is just great! We've lost him, I mean me... or whatever!" Ichigo shouted, gritting his teeth in annoyance.

"Hmm, seems we've hit a dead end," Rukia said, frowning lightly.

Ichigo turned around sharply.

"What?" look we don't have time...we have got to find him, me...I mean...I don't know what I mean. What I do know is that we have to capture him!"

"Ichigo has a point, Kuchiki-san," Hinata said, looking over to them.

Rukia looked over towards the violet eyed girl. Both had violet eyes, but Rukia couldn't help but envy the shade of Hinata's, they were lighter, and brighter than Rukia's. Added to the silver that mixed easily with the violet they were unique but oddly familiar.

For the life of her she couldn't...she just couldn't put her finger on where she'd met this girl before. But this wasn't the time to be thinking of that.

Rukia nodded, and said, "I don't think we'll simply find him that easily, Ichigo. We should be weary as well, Mod Souls can be dangerous."

"You don't understand, You saw it too, that jerk used my body to..to come take advantage of Orihime, Tatsuki and...Hinata!then he..he...k-ki-kis.."

Ichigo choked on the words, eyes wide and Hinata rolled her eyes.

"Kissed them, yes I know," Rukia said nonchalantly, arms crossed.

"I was there, kind of hard for me to forget," Hinata said, eyes shadowed by her bangs as she silently seethed at the reminder of her first kiss being stolen.

At least Orihime and Tatsuki got off lightly, that damn Mod Soul hadn't come onto them as strongly.

Ichigo began to spaze out for a moment, and Hinata would have usually laughed at how odd the orange haired boy could get, but she was simply not in the mood.

"Ichigo... we'll find the Mod Soul," Hinata said, placing a hand on Ichigo's arm.

Looking over at her, Ichigo nodded, calming.

"Right, it doesn't matter what he's done to my image. I'll just have to beat him for messing around like that, but first we've got to find him," he said, and Hinata smirked.

"So, if we were Mod Souls, out for the first time in who knows how long, where would we go?" Hinata muttered, tapping her chin thoughtfully with her pointer finger.

The three of them exchanged looks before sighing, and taking off towards more public places.

"Considering how he acted in class he'll probably go where there are lots of people, more likely girls," Hinata said, saying the last part with disdain, while Ichigo's eyebrow twitched.

"We'll split up," Rukia said. "Ichigo you go one way with Hinata, and I'll go further into town towards the shops."

The two nodded and they split, Hinata and Ichigo running one way and Rukia the other.

**.**

**.**

**.**

Dark violet eyes widened as she looked back to watch Ichigo and Hinata get further away.

While her eyes saw Hinata and Ichigo, running side by side, in her mind she saw the ghost of two different people running beside each other.

_'Wait...could it be...but I thought she was dead?' _Rukia thought to herself, shocked as she froze, coming to a dead stop.

_Two dark haired people running beside each other, one a bit taller, with darker hair, but looked nearly like he could be Ichigo's slightly older twin, but with black hair and aqua green eyes. The girl was rather beautiful, had long hair that was pulled back, black eyes, and fair skin._

_The scene changed so that a boy, who looked nearly identical took the black haired boys place. Slightly shorter orange hair, skin a little tanner, and eyes that were an amber-brown. The dark haired girl was replaced with a shorter girl, with longer black hair that was pulled into a simple loose ponytail, and had bright silver-violet eyes. _

_The image changed once again, and she recalled seeing a girl standing with the first pair of people, smiling brightly and laughing with them. The Dark haired boy, who looked so similar to Ichigo, placed an arm around the two girls shoulders as they walked towards her together._

Rukia's eyes widened in reality.

_'They...for a moment it wasn't Hinata and Ichigo I saw running off together, it was Kaien and Miyako. Why do those two remind me of them so suddenly, Hinata doesn't even truly look like Miyako, though both do have akin hair colors and back then she wasn't quite as pale. But that last memory, I remember now. It was through Kaien I remember meeting Hinata... but she couldn't be Yoruhana-fukutaichō ...she's dead isn't she?' _

Rukia swallowed the lump that formed in her throat at the sudden realization of where she knew Hinata from. Truth be told she hadn't known Yoruhana Hinata well, and it was only through Kaien that she had known the 10th Divisions Lieutenant as well as she had.

They had run in different circles, even if they both knew Kaien, and she'd only seen her a few times before something happened and many captains and lieutenants were said to be dead. She didn't even know a lot when it came to that time, it was when she was still very knew to being a Soul Reaper. A hundred years ago, give or take a few years.

_'I have no time for this, I'll have to confront her about this later,' _Rukia thought before she turned and took off running again.

**.**

**.**

**.**

"Wait, over there!" Hinata cried, pointing towards the back of the middle school.

Sitting on the wall was Ichigo, though he looked extremely upset.

There were also three middle school boys, with wide eyes both realized what the Mod Soul was about to do as he came to stand in front of the three boys. He seemed to be preparing a drop kick, that would probably break many of the bones in the kids' bodies if connected right.

With a growl, Ichigo and Hinata both ran as fast as they could, but it was Hinata who got there first. Standing in front of the boys, arms crossed in front of her, she was able to stall the kick, though it was obvious it wasn't an easy feat. Hinata had to thank Urahara mentally for making her Gigai a bit more sturdy than the standard human body.

It was by no means super human, Gigai's simply couldn't handle that much modification, but it was enough to do some seemingly improbable feats. The Mod Soul's eyes widened, surprised at who had blocked his attack. Not only at the fact she'd been able to, but that she had even been able to follow him in the first place.

"What do you think you're doing?" Hinata demanded, eyes narrowed dangerously.

"Huh? Hinata-chan, what are you doing here?" the Mod Soul asked, trying to charm his way out of the situation.

He was blindsided by the punch the collided with his face from the side. He flew into the wall separating the school grounds from everywhere else. It was around this time the three boys had taken the chance to run off.

"Oh, it's you Kurosaki Ichigo," the Mod said, wiping blood from the side of his mouth as he stood up, smirking.

"What's the big idea, messing around with my body like this? Assaulting my friends and classmates!?" Ichigo roared at the Mod Soul and it blinked.

Scratching the side of his head the Mod thought, before he said, "I don't remember assaulting any of your classmates. I do remember that cute tomboy and the beauty over there attacking me..."

"Then what do you call kissing Hinata!?" Ichigo shouted, gripping the Mod Soul by the collar of his shirt.

"Oh, that? That was simply me being friendly and getting to know her," he replied, grinning before he turned serious, kicking Ichigo back, and turning to run off again.

This time a fuming Hinata was in his way, and he considered giving up then, but knew if he did he could kiss any life he had before goodbye. Though he didn't like fighting women, he saw no choice and shot forward with a kick towards her head.

Hinata nimbly dodged, grabbing his ankle as he went to sail by and swung him into the wall once again. With skill she wasn't all that surprised the Mod Soul had he twisted in mid air, and landed with his feet against the wall, in what should have been a gravity defying manner, and was able to flip up onto the brick wall and take off; much to Ichigo and Hinata's ire.

"Damn it," Hinata muttered, and Ichigo grunted his agreement.

"Come on, we've got to follow him," Ichigo said, and the two nodded.

It was then they heard the beeping, and turning to see Rukia running up to them, a grim look on her face.

"Wait," Rukia began, as she came to a stop, a little out of breath.

"You've got to be kidding me," Ichigo said, and Rukia shook her head, looking at her phone.

"I'm afraid not, a Hollow is nearby. We've got to take care of it," she said.

"But...the Mod.."

Hinata took a step forward and spoke up, "I'll follow the Mod Soul, you take care of the Hollow."

Looking at his friend, he hesitated for a second before nodding, taking off with Rukia towards the Hollow. With one last glance at them, Hinata narrowed her eyes, and followed the rout the Mod Soul had taken.

**.**

**.**

**.**

Hinata was keeping just behind the Mod Soul, who was jumping from roof to roof, when she noticed him freeze on a roof. Stopping dead in her own tracks, Hinata watched confused as he stared off into the distance, towards the school they'd left.

Looking back, she was soon frozen by the ominous feeling of a Hollow nearby. It didn't seem to be the same one Ichigo and Rukia had went after, seeing as it felt like it was going towards the Middle School.

Looking back towards the Mod Soul was surprised to find him gone, and turning back towards the school she took her chances. The Hollow was probably the reason the Mod Soul had stopped, and chances were it had went back to deal with what it was created to deal with, the Hollow.

Even if he hadn't... the people that could be hurt by the Hollow came first.

**.**

**.**

**.**

"Mod!"

The Mod Soul looked up, surprised to see Hinata running towards them, a determined look on her face.

She began speaking quickly, "Ye lord! Mask of blood and flesh, all creation, flutter of wings, ye who bears the name of Man! Inferno and pandemonium, the sea barrier surges, march on to the south!" Holding her palm out in front of her, the Mod Soul realized it was best he get further out of Hinata's way as the spell began forming. "Hadō #31. Shakkahō!"

The Kidō spell forced the Hollow back as it hit it's intended target and Hinata came to a stop beside the injured Mod Soul, breathing heavily. It had been a long time since she'd used a Kidō spell and she was in her Gigai.

She tried to stay out of Shinigami affairs, and few Hollows actually made it close to her, or the Kurosaki's, despite Ichigo's high spiritual power, and Karin's own. If one did happen to get too close she took care of it, but she usually didn't depend on Kidō, since she'd never been the greatest with it. She was good, but there were many better suited for it.

"You alright?" she asked, kneeling next to the Mod Soul, who was clutching at the shoulder, bleeding rather fiercely.

"Damn..." she couldn't help but mutter as she got a closer look at the wound. It was worse than she'd thought,but not fatal. Ichigo would live once he was returned to his body.

"So... you're a Soul Reaper?" The Mod Soul said more than asked, standing up.

She snorted, standing as she and the Mod Soul took off for the school roof, which Hinata had help jumping onto thanks to the Mod Soul.

Her Gigai may be enhanced, but even she didn't know if she'd make that jump being as tired as she was. Running around the Karakura, and using a Kidō spell after so long, while in her Gigai (not that she left it often, or at all if it could be helped), she wasn't surprised she was as tired as she was.

"Haha, a little Soul Reaper, and aware human..." the bug-like Hollow said as it stared down at them. "It must be my lucky day. Now, who to eat first?"

"How about no one?" Hinata snapped, readying to use another spell.

She cursed the fact she didn't carry her Gikongan on her, nor did she happen to have her Zanpakutō handy like Kisuke. She supposed it was a mistake on her part not to.

"I don't think so little Shinigami!"

Hinata gasped as a tentacle extended from the bug-Hollow's body, and Hinata and the Mod Soul both jumped out of the way. Unfortunately it was quick to redirect it's attack towards the Mod Soul.

Hinata moved quickly, pushing the Mod Soul in Ichigo's body to the side. The tentacle ripped through her side, but never got the chance to do more damage as a large sword hacked it off. Hinata groaned, looking down at her right side to see the damage done.

It wasn't that bad, it had mostly just grazed her as she pushed the Mod Soul to the side. Probably wouldn't even need stitches, but her uniform was ruined by the blood and rip in the fabric. She wasn't concerned about that, she had other copies of the uniform at home.

Too keep from loosing too much blood she pressed her hand over the wound, applying pressure.

"Hina, you alright?" Ichigo asked, turning to look at her while the Hollow wailed in pain.

His eyes widened at the blood seeping through her fingers, and right side of her uniform.

"It's fine," she muttered, waving his concern off.

Ichigo narrowed his eyes, and turned to the Mod Soul getting to his feet in shock. Growling he grabbed the Mod Soul by the collar of the shirt.

"WHAT THE HELL IS THAT? YOU COULD HAVE GOTTEN HER KILLED!" he shouted, shaking the Modified Soul. "Dammit, do you know what you did to my shoulder! It's my body you're messing up, if you can't take on a Hollow without getting hurt, and getting Hinata hurt as well, than don't do it!"

"What is your problem? I didn't ask Hinata for help, but I'm sorry she got hurt helping me...still, you can't expect me to let this Hollow eat someone because you weren't here."

Hinata twitched.

"Both of you need to stop fight...crap, Ichigo the Hollow!" Hinata cried, and she moved back a little further, knowing she'd be no help to her friend currently.

She didn't want to resort to her mask, she wasn't ready to reveal that part of her story to Ichigo and she doubted he'd react well to it at this point in time.

Ichigo and the Mod Soul both looked over as the caterpillar-like Hollow shot towards them, yelling about wanting to eat as he did. Ichigo was quick to slice the Hollow's mask, while the Mod Soul acted on instinct, kicking the mask.

The mask began to split, and the Hollow shot into the air, intending to fly off the roof towards the school yard. Eyes wide, the Mod Soul ran after the Hollow, jumping and kicking it upwards towards the sky as it disintegrated. Before he was able to fall to his death – or more like, Ichigo's bodies death – he was caught by the ankle.

"What the hell were you thinking?" Ichigo seethed. "There was no point..."

He stopped mid rant when a smaller hand rested on his arm, and Hinata came up beside him.

"Look, on the playground," Hinata said. "They may not be able to see the Hollow, but If it had landed they may have noticed. Not to mention, the Hollow may have been able to save itself by eating one them, if close enough and it had enough time."

Ichigo looked at her surprised. After knowing her for three years she was one of his closest friends, but considering she had lived in his house for months, close to a year, and then next door, it wasn't that surprising they'd grown close.

He could admit she was one of his best friends.

**.**

**.**

**.**

Several minutes later, Hinata groaned as Ichigo tightened a piece of her uniform blazer around her slim waist, covering her wound. She sat with the white shirt worn under it unbuttoned from the bottom up until her ribcage, to give room for Ichigo to tend to her wound.

She had planned to wait, and take care of it herself, or even get Rukia or Kisuke to help her...but Ichigo had insisted it be taken care of sooner rather than later. Considering it was rather deep, despite not being in need of stitches, she had given in.

She hadn't said anything as She'd sat down, and began moving her clothes out of the way. At first the orangette had reacted like she'd thought he would, like any prude would. Especially when it looked as if she intended to unbutton the white shirt completely.

Several minutes later, and despite nothing but her stomach area being bare the boy was still bright red, and keeping his eyes glued on the wound, and away from anything that a fifteen year old boy might look at.

_He's such a prude_, she thought with a mental laugh. It was kind of endearing.

"There," Ichigo said, as he secured the fabric that had been ripped from her blazer to wrap the wound. "That should hold, you should come to the clinic and let my dad look at it later. He could do more."

Hinata nodded, allowing the white shirt to fall back down into place at the sides, where she'd been holding them out of the way. Taking pity on Ichigo, she re-buttoned her shirt before she took his offered hand up.

"I'm sorry you got hurt, Hina," Ichigo said, and Hinata shook her head.

"Really Ichigo, I'm fine," she said.

Ichigo hesitantly nodded, but he couldn't shake the feeling that it was his fault she had gotten hurt. He hadn't been fast enough to stop the Hollow, and she'd had to protect the Mod Soul powering his body. Looking over at the Mod Soul, he narrowed his eyes, yet he couldn't place all the blame on the soul inhabiting his body.

"So, what's the big deal?" Ichigo asked, walking over to the Mod Soul, who was kneeling down to watch the ants move by.

"Sorry...I guess I got caught up in the freedom having a body gave me." The Mod Soul sighed.

"Why did you save those kids, before you seemed ready to finish them yourself?" Hinata couldn't help but ask.

When she had arrived to find the Soul helping those kids, she'd been confused. Hadn't he been ready to beat them into oblivion a few minutes before?

"It's complicated, you see I had to help them. If I hadn't they would have been killed...no one should have the right to kill anyone!" He shook his head angrily. "Right after my birth the Soul Society sent out the order to destroy all Mod Souls. The very day I was born they gave me a death sentence simply for existing."

Ichigo's eyes widened as he listened to the Modified Soul. He had heard of what Soul Society had done to the Mod Souls from Hinata, but hearing from the Mod Soul himself left an impact. He simply couldn't imagine the sort of betrayal the Mod Souls must have felt, they had done nothing but exist and were executed for Soul Societies mistakes.

Hinata listened with a grim frown, and narrowed eyes filled with hints of anger but mostly sadness and understanding. She could understand how the soul felt, she remembered the sense of betrayal and defeat she'd felt when she and the other Visored were forced to flee.

"I waited, fearing the inevitable, watching helplessly as the others were disposed of. My friends...family. But just as I thought it was over, I got lucky and was shipped out by mistake. It didn't matter though, I figured it was just borrowed time, until they found me and got rid of me. I've been alone a long time now, and It's given me time to think."

The Mod Soul smiled slightly, sadly.

"I decided that no one should have the right to take someone life away! I exist, and I have a right to continue living my life as long as I want to! So I refuse to take another life."

The was silence after that, but seconds later it was interrupted.

"Looky what we have here, and your all beat up and wore out," a man in his early to mid twenties said. He had blonde hair under a distinctive white and green hat. "All that trouble for nothing, it seems."

Hinata twitched, closing her eyes for a moment.

"Wha..." The Mod Soul was interrupted by the guys cane connecting with his forehead, forcing the pill from Ichigo's body.

"And mission accomplished," Urahara said, picking the little green pill up.

"What, but where was the fight? I came to fight!" Jinta whined, and was ignored.

"Hey, wait a minute, who are you?" Ichigo demanded, taking a step forward.

Urahara turned, looking at the orange haired Substitute Soul Reaper, tossing the Mod Soul pill in the air and catching it. He saw Hinata standing by Ichigo's side, looking a little worse for wear, and though he felt a flash of concern for his old friend he also knew she would be fine. It looked as if Ichigo had already wrapped her most grievous wound, and she'd either see Isshin about it or come to him to be healed. For now he would pretend he didn't know her.

"Now, that something I don't know how to explain."

Suddenly Ichigo realized something and his eyes widened. "Wait, you can...see me?"

"Hmm, why yes..." Urahara began, but stopped suddenly as he noticed the green pill be snatched by Rukia.

"Ms. Kuchiki, I'm gonna need to ask for that back," he said, and the noble girl shot him a glare.

"Why, are you saying it's common practice for you to reposes purchased goods, Kisuke?" she asked, walking over to Ichigo and Hinata. "I'm quite happy with my purchase, thank you."

Urahara opened his mouth to argue but sighed, realizing arguing wouldn't help matters. Rukia was quite determined and it was clear Kurosaki wasn't going to let the Mod Soul be destroyed without a fight. From the looks of it, Hinata was in agreement with her two little friends.

"I guess I have no choice, but you do realize what your getting into?" Kisuke began, looking at the smaller dark haired girl. "Don't blame me if you get into trouble."

"Don't worry, I won't," Rukia said, and held the pill out to Ichigo, who held his hand out so she could drop it into his palm. "Come on, Ichigo, Hinata, we should go now."

"Right," Ichigo muttered, looking at the green pill for a moment.

A few seconds later, Ichigo had settled back into his body, and was following Rukia out.

"Hinata, you coming?" Ichigo called back, and the violet eyed girl nodded.

"Just give me a minute, I'll catch up to you and Rukia," she said and hesitantly, Ichigo accepted this and continued after Rukia.

"Does he know?" Kisuke asked, walking up to his old friend.

Hinata sighed, shaking her head.

"Not yet, he knows I can see spirits now. He also realizes that I have a connection to Soul Society at the least...it's Rukia I'm more concerned about. I can understand why she hasn't recognized me for who I am...it has had been over a hundred years, but this whole mess stinks of something bigger."

"Right, Ms. Kuchiki was Kaien's little protege wasn't she?" Kisuke asked, smiling cheerfully.

"I guess you could call it that..." she trailed off. "It doesn't matter, I'm gonna have to explain to Ichigo and Rukia who I am."

"Not everything, I hope," Kisuke said, and she sighed, giving him a hard look that questioned his common sense.

"Eventually, but I know I can't explain everything yet. Ichigo isn't ready, and Isshin should tell Ichigo his side of everything when he's ready. I'll have to reveal my connection to you though."

"And Isshin?" he asked.

"I guess I can say you'd met his mother and father before, and simply called in a favor, and that's why Isshin took me in until I could live independently."

Urahara nodded, turning around, and moving back towards his group.

"Good luck then, Hina-hime."

_'Thanks, I'll need it,' _Hinata thought as she began heading in the direction Ichigo and Rukia had gone.


End file.
